Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who spoke at NACo’s 2016 Annual Conference, reflects here on his experience as a noted athlete, writer and filmmaker.
Q:There must have been a lot of expectation on the basketball court because of your height. Yet, you’ve often said you weren’t very good at first. What motivated you to become so good?
KAJ: My parents expected excellence from me. Not in a harsh or demanding way, but in a supportive way because they knew how hard the world was on black men and women. They wanted me to enter adulthood with as many tools for success as possible, both academic and athletic. Their support inspired me to do my best…
Q: Your involvement with the Civil Rights Movement began at an early age. What are some of the experiences you had that led you to this commitment?
KAJ: Every person of color in this country has stories of discrimination, hate speech or even violence directed at them. It’s hard for whites who’ve never experienced this to understand how it’s a daily concern. It’s like walking through an amusement park haunted house, knowing something’s going to jump out at you, just not knowing when. Your nerves are always on alert. It’s that general feeling of never feeling completely safe or valuable that prompted my involvement. Yes, there were specific moments that inspired me: meeting Martin Luther King, Jr., being accidentally caught up in a Harlem race riot and having to run for my life, and racial slurs and taunts from the sidelines of basketball games. But my commitment is based on a deep regard for the U.S. Constitution and making sure we live up to the noble words we claim to love.
Q: Your conversion to Islam in 1971 when you were 24 caused a lot of controversy. How did you deal with the backlash from the public?
KAJ: I’d already had some experience dealing with racial backlash and I’d seen what had happened to Muhammad Ali when he announced his conversion to the Nation of Islam (which is not at all what I’d converted to, though to most people who didn’t know better, it was the same). So, I was somewhat prepared. I wasn’t quite prepared for some of the resentment from other African Americans. The main way I dealt with it was to show everyone that my faith was genuine and to reach out to others in peace and openness. I focused on our common goal of bringing people together in tolerance and respect and in turn that’s what I received. Most of the time…
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